Trench diggers find human remains

Remains of a person suspected to be a genocide victim during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were Friday found by people who were digging a water channel in Rugando cell in Kimihurura. “As someone was digging a water channel yesterday he dug into the remains and he reported to us. We are now making the necessary arrangements to give them a decent burial,” said Georgette Uwimbabazi, the Rugando Executive Secretary. According to John Kagoro, the secretary of security in the sector, the remains are suspected to be of a man called Mutaga who before the Genocide lived in a house which is a few meters away from the place where the remains were unearthed. “We suspect the remains are Mutaga’s whose remains have never been recovered,” Kagolo said. “His children have been pleading with Gacaca and the area residents to at least get information which can lead to knowledge of their father’s remains but failed.” This comes months after the discovery of other remains of a person suspected to be a soldier due to the shreds of army camouflage found with the remains. Kagoro said that the problem is that no one has so far come out to give more information which can help in easing the shroud of mystery surrounding the remains, despite having many people in the area who were there during and before the genocide. When contacted, Gaspard Gasasira, the spokesperson for the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, said the issue will be followed up to establish whether the remains are of a person who died in the genocide. “The issue has to be followed up to be sure whether the person truly died during the genocide, because there are cases of militias who killed themselves. In this case they can’t be buried with honour that is only deserved for those who died innocently.” There is a general belief that many remains of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi are still at large and are unburied due to deliberate concealment and conspiracies by perpetrators. Ends